This has been an amazing summer for me in terms of historical reenacting events – a Civil War and Military Show in Mansfield in May (this was more of a military/gun show), the Hale Farm Civil War weekend in August, D-Day Conneaut the following weekend, and today’s event.

Zoar is a tiny village south of Canton, a 45-minute drive south from me. Their museums and shops were also open for visitors (2017 is also Zoar’s bicentennial) – the $10 admission included access to these buildings as well as the reenacting event. I arrived at 9:45am; I first took a tour through some buildings, and I also chatted with a few reenactors. Two of the reenactors I had met last year, so it was good to talk with them again. I also walked through a lovely garden, and browsed some sutler shops (where I bought a fun 1849 German booklet about animals, for children). The last, and main, event was the battle at 1:30pm.

The Hale Farm event was much bigger than this Zoar event, but what I liked more about this event was the viewing of the battle: at Hale Farm, we were level with the battlefield, but in Zoar we were sitting on a hill and looking down into the battlefield.

Click here to check out the website for this event to learn more. This event occurs once every other year, so its next event should be in September 2019. In the past this event also featured a Civil War period wedding, but for whatever reason they couldn’t have the wedding this year. Hopefully in 2019 they’ll have one! I’ll even volunteer myself, even though I currently know nothing about weddings from that time period! (This would also be the closest I’ll likely ever be to being married, so please give me that dream! haha)

And now, some photos! All taken with my Nikon s9600.

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UPDATE! (evening of Sept 12, 2017)

I had shared these photos on my Facebook profile Sunday evening, and its album was shared by a large reenacting group (1st Legion Provisional Army of the Confederate States [website]). And I’ve been getting many notifications on likes, tags, and shares of the photos and album since then. Wow! I am so happy that people liked my photos, although I feel that there are far better photographers out there – this is just a point-and-shoot with many limitations (and none of the photos are edited).

I have really enjoyed the historical reenacting events as a spectator over the last few years (now Civil War and WWII) and slowly learning more about these periods of history.

I want to thank all of the reenactors, for every time period and “side” of history everywhere, for giving us these visuals of history and allowing us these amazing opportunities to learn of our history.

On August 21, a total solar eclipse crossed the United States. In my part of NE Ohio, I think we only had 80% – which is still better than nothing haha. But of course, in typical NE Ohio fashion, it’s cloudy and crummy whenever there’s supposed to be something of interest happening in the sky… and it was no different that Monday afternoon.

I took this with my trusty point-and-shoot… and, GASP… I didn’t use a solar filter or anything to protect my lens! And I took glances at the eclipse while wearing my dad’s welder glasses. Sometimes I’m a rebel.

Do you see that little crescent? That’s the eclipse! So I have my own photographic proof of it. 🙂

My dad and I have wanted to visit this event for a few years – but either we forgot about it until it had recently passed on the calendar (I sometimes have a poor sense of time), or weather wasn’t cooperative. Last year it was my sister’s Masters graduation. But goodness gracious, nothing was keeping us away this year!

D-Day Conneaut is an annual reenacting event in Conneaut, Ohio – along Lake Erie and near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Around 1,500 reenactors represent both sides of the war, and approximately 40,000 people visited this three-day event.

In the morning my dad and I caught The Battle for La Fiere, and we explored the various camps to see camp life. My dad is a gunsmith hobbyist, so he was always excited to talk guns with several folks. We also ran into someone I know from college (who I believe is the person who first informed me about the world of reenacting; he does WWII and Civil War), and it was nice to chat with him for a bit. Lots of walking, and we walked along Lake Erie (I’ve never been to what people typically think of when they hear “beach” [like Florida], but this shore was a beach and I’ll take it) before catching another little event, the Maquis Attack. The last and main event was the Normandy beach landing, which was beyond impressive with planes, tanks, watercraft, and all the soldier-reenactors on the field. Unfortunately I was sitting at the embarkation end of the coast, and trees were blocking my view of the combat and landing at the other end. I’m determined to stake out a better view next year!

Now that I’ve been to a few events like this, I’m still absolutely amazed by the reenactors. They know SO MUCH and their research and knowledge is clearly evident in their passion for sharing their information and the detail they put into everything. It would definitely be a fascinating hobby to enter, but I would probably feel overwhelmed with all the history and stuff to learn! I really ought to chat with some reenactors to learn how they entered this hobby.

I highly recommend this event if you’re interested in WWII history and reenacting events. The event is very well organized and is free to visit (they solely rely on donations, and donation buckets/people are all over the park to accept donations).

I took a ton of photos (440) and whittled it down to this selection so that you can get a glimpse of what my dad and I experienced. All taken with my Nikon s9600. I had to really push my camera’s zoom for the beach landing, but it was decent.

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About Marica

I’m 28 and I live in NE Ohio. I like to craft, cook, read, and travel. I LOVE spicy food. I collect postcards, and old stuff. I like to study and learn about all sorts of different things. … So how do you pronounce my name? It’s Croatian, but you can say it like “Marissa”.